ALEXANDRIA, Va. (Reuters) - A former U.S. Army scientist investigated by the FBI in its probe into last year's deadly anthrax mailings said on Sunday he had filed ethics complaints against Attorney General John Ashcroft and others involved in the investigation. Again blasting the government's handling of the case, Steven Hatfill, a medical doctor and germ warfare expert, said the officials violated Justice Department regulations by leaking information about him and calling him a "person of interest" in the probe. Hatfill had a similar news conference two weeks ago, at which time he said he had never worked with anthrax. "I want to look my fellow Americans directly in the eye and declare to them -- I am not the anthrax killer," he said on Sunday. "I had absolutely nothing to do with this terrible anthrax crime." At times emotional as he described an intrusive law enforcement investigation, Hatfill said his lawyers were answering with action of their own. "My attorneys have filed an ethics complaint at Mr. Ashcroft's conduct as well as that of others involved in this matter," he said, without elaborating. His attorney was not immediately available. Federal officials have been investigating the spate of anthrax-tainted letters sent to government officials and media outlets in Washington, Florida and New York last year. Five people died and about a dozen others were treated for deadly inhalation anthrax or the less serious skin version. FBI investigators have twice searched Hatfill's house. The 48-year-old was one of about 30 U.S.-based scientists identified by the FBI as a so-called person of interest. Hatfill worked for the Army Medical Institute of Infectious Disease, center of the nation's biological warfare defense research, at Fort Detrick, Maryland. He also worked at Science Applications International Corp., a defense contractor. An FBI spokesman said the bureau would not comment on Hatfill's complaint. Sources tell the DRUDGE REPORT that Hatfill has told his lawyers he wants to sue the NEW YORK TIMES and its terror columnist Nicholas Kristof for reporting last week: Hatfill has "failed three successive polygraph examinations since January."